Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes
by usmarox
Summary: When Dylan Hunt and his crew discover an old High Guard munitions dump, they uncover a dark secret from the last days of the Commonwealth...
1. Questions

**Quis**** Custodiet Ipsos Custodes**

_Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he, too,  does not become a monster_. 

**Friedrich Nietzsche**

"Uhhhh……boss?"

"Go ahead, Harper."

"I think you'll want to see this…."

"On my way. Hunt out."

Captain Hunt half-marched, half-ran through the dimly lit corridors of the old High Guard munitions depot. Little more than a pressurised asteroid with a fusion generator and AG, it had begun life as a navigation beacon in an otherwise uninhabited system. During the Fall, it was pressed into service as a hiding place for combat supplies moved from the path of the advancing Nietzscheans. Beka had found it during a routine sort of Andromeda's navigation data, and it had been agreed that it would be worth a visit, if only to confirm there was nothing there.

Hunt arrived to find Harper looking at a locked door.

"What's the problem?"

"Listen." Harper tapped the keypad by the door. It failed to open, instead asking for a valid access code.

"Well, it always worked before…..authorisation Captain Dylan Hunt, ten-break-alpha".

"Survey says…..yes," breathed Harper as the door laboured open. It revealed a cavernous room , with a facing wall covered in a matrix of many smaller, armoured doors. Neither Hunt nor Harper needed long to recognise the characteristic symbols on each of the smaller doors.

"Nova bombs…….lots of nova bombs," Harper whispered almost reverently.

"I count…..my Gods……more than a hundred," said Hunt. "I know the war against the Nietzscheans went badly, but……."

The two of them stood there in silent contemplation of the almost unimaginable destructive power arrayed before them. The silence was broken by Hunt's communicator.

"Dylan, this is Rommie. I've turned up a Planetary Assault 'Bot. We don't really have space for it, but we can't leave it here either….."

"Rommie, forget the 'bot. Come down here…..I need some historical opinion."

"Understood."

When Rommie arrived, Harper and Hunt were stood, mute, outside the door. They looked up at the sound of Rommie's approach, and beckoned her inside.

"Nova bombs. One hundred and forty of them. Dylan, this isn't - wasn't - listed as a strategic weapons storage site."

"Rommie….how old is this storage area?"

Rommie's eyes flickered briefly as she talked to the facility's computer. "According to the records, the last time this door was opened was…..304 years ago…..just after the Nietzschean betrayal."

Hunt narrowed his eyes in thought. "Rommie – at that time…..give or take five years, who owned this area of space?"

"This system, such as it is, was Commonwealth-controlled, as were the adjacent stars. But Nietzschean space was only forty light-years away. Even now this sector is pretty much owned by Sabre-Jaguar….I suppose they just never saw anything worthwhile here. Surprising, but not impossible."

"Rommie…..do you have any historical records that tell us how the Commonwealth military was faring at that time?"

"Badly….Tarn-Vedra had just dropped off the slipstream network, the Nietzscheans had overrun most of the Milky Way, and the High Guard had just been routed at Acheron. Dylan….what are you thinking?"

"One hundred forty nova bombs in an unmarked storage facility? As I see it, there are two possibilities. The first is that the High Guard could not allow them to fall into the hands of the Niets, and hid them before they were found. The historical record shows that they were quite happy to plunder High Guard depots, so that's feasible. The other……"

"Dylan…..what you're suggesting is impossible. No-one would ever have allowed a strike that extensive. Besides, there weren't that many uninhabited systems."

"Rommie, by the time this place was set up, we'd already lost. All that changed was the body count. If you were a High Guard staff officer, with all your forces falling back in disarray, a hundred and forty Nietzschean systems in exchange for the Commonwealth's survival, or to at least forestall the Nietzschean offensive…….the math probably worked out well at the time."

"So….you're saying…..that the Systems Commonwealth…._authorised_…a massive nova strike against Nietzschean territory….Dylan, the Council would never have condoned it, much less approved it….."

"It might not have stopped them, but with the right targets it would've put a big dent in their war effort…..they might even have been forced to sue for peace. Not likely, but I'm sure that the situation was desperate enough for the General Staff to try. And desperate times breed desperate men."

"So how come they're still here?"

"Who knows. Maybe the task force assigned to it was destroyed, or couldn't get here….hell, maybe they just called the plan off. What matters is that we have to do something with them."

"Dylan, we only have lockers for 40 of them….I can't take them all on."

"I don't _want any of them. Even with the Magog worldship on the way. And hiding forty nova bombs from Tyr would be non-trivial……no. Rommie, tell Beka we're heading back. Harper, if you need any spare parts from here, I suggest you load them quickly. I say we take off and nuke the place from orbit….it's the only way to be sure."_

"Dylan, are you sure?"

"Rommie, no-one, but no-one needs this many nova bombs. Not us, not the Reformed Commonwealth, and definitely not the Nietzscheans. I want them gone."

With that, he stormed from the room and back toward the Maru.

"Oh crap….he's angry," observed Harper, who until now had stood in silence.

"You heard him. Let's go."

-----

Their return to the Andromeda was silent, and very sober. Even Harper was quiet. As soon as they docked, Hunt ran to Control, leaving Rommie and Harper to do the post-flight routine. Even as the doors slid open, he began issuing commands.

"Beka, take us out to one light-second. Tyr, I want the place destroyed. If I can see anything bigger than dust afterwards, I'll be a very unhappy man."

"Captain……," Tyr began, but Hunt cut him off mid-word.

"NOW, MR ANASAZI!"

Tyr growled, but relented. "By your command…..sir."

"We're at one LS, Dylan."

"Kill it."

Rommie and Harper arrived from the hangar deck in time to watch as salvo after salvo of missiles pounded the asteroid into dust. Hunt had left command before the last explosion had finished.

----

Rommie found Hunt leaning against the Obs deck rail, staring into space.

"Why, Dylan?"

"Rommie…..those nova bombs….each of them had at least a billion Nietzschean names on them. I can't…..how, Rommie? How could the Commonwealth stoop to their level?"

Rommie shrugged. "You said it yourself. The military situation was desperate. At the time, it probably seemed that there was no other alternative."

"Do you remember Haephestus? When Gaheris suggested I use a nova bomb? And I said no, because there were half a billion sentients living there. If I had…."

"…..The Commonwealth would never have had to come up with this plan in the first place? Dylan, that would change nothing. The only difference would be the body count," finished Rommie, echoing Hunt's earlier words in the depot.

"But why, Rommie, why? I feel…..I don't know….cheated, somehow. I spent my whole life defending the Commonwealth against enemies inside and out – enemies that would include those who'd destroy whole solar systems because them had nothing better to do! That isn't the Commonwealth I fought for…..and not the one I want to remember." Hunt was shaking now, his knuckles clenched and white with rage.

"When does it become okay Rommie? When is it sound strategic planning to kill a hundred billion people?" he asked, his voice now quieter, less forceful.

Rommie said nothing. She could think of nothing. To simply agree with him, to say that it was never acceptable was to demean his beloved Commonwealth. If Hunt began to see the Commonwealth through a lens like that, he might not _want_ to restore it, lest it try the same thing again.

Instead, she placed her hand on his shoulder, and watched the stars go by.

---


	2. Searches

Dylan sat at his desk, trying to digest the flexi that sat upon it. He massaged his temples with his fingers, struggling to take an interest in the economics of interstellar haulage, and why a new commonwealth would disrupt them enough that the FTA was demanding guarantees of tax relief. He was grateful for the distraction presented by the chiming of his door's annunciator.

"Come."

Rommie walked in, holding another flexi and an expression of concern. Dylan looked up and feigned a grimace.

"Rommie, if anyone else is complaining about how a renewed Commonwealth would ruin trade, displace millions and tear holes in space-time, respectfully tell them I cherish my ignorance and to go away." 

Rommie smiled, and then reverted to her usual business-like manner. "No, Dylan. It's about the old Commonwealth records you wanted me to track down. As far as I can tell, the best place to start looking would be San-Ska-Re."

"San-Ska-Re? Why there?"

"It was one of the few worlds to survive the Fall almost intact. When Tarn-Vedra disappeared, it became the de facto capital of what was left of the Commonwealth."

_The Than homeworld,_ mused Dylan. _This would be much easier if Dawn was still here._

"Rommie, how much diplomatic credit do we have the Than at the moment?"

"Insofar as they give credit to anyone, we're in quite good standing. The Hegemon's Heart, and how we handled the Bokor affair should give us a little leverage." She paused, and added "And, of course, I am still the most powerful warship in the Known Worlds." Rommie grinned. The _Andromeda's_ presence alone could still reduce even belligerent systems to docile civility.

"Rommie, what would I do without you?," chuckled Dylan. "Tell Beka to lay in a course for San-Ska-Re. The Overdiamond has an appointment with me."

---

Seen from orbit, San-Ska-Re had little to commend it. An arid, mostly desert world, it had the outward appearance of an oversized asteroid dragged into orbit by it's young, hot blue sun.

The crew watched from the bridge. A flight of _Brilliant Carapace_-class Than fighters had formed up around them as them as they 'streamed in, and Dylan had received strict instructions about not leaving their "protection" – _or their arcs of fire_, he thought.

Rommie's eyes flickered as she talked to her ship-self. "Captain. We are receiving a hail from the flight commander."

"Onscreen," he replied, drawing himself up to his full, impressive height. After much ummming and ahhhhing, it had been decided that his old High Guard uniform would be best for what was, after all, their first official meeting with the Than Hegemony.

The viewscreen came to life, showing a brilliant emerald-green Than. Although much of it's head was invisible behind a flight helmet and eyeshields, the irritated twitching of its mandibles was all too visible. Dawn had done much the same thing, usually at crew who complained about the ride.

"Captain of the vessel _Andromeda._ I am Commander Breeze of Evening, of the Hegemony Defence Fleet. State your destination and intentions."

"This is Captain Dylan Hunt, of the starship _Andromeda Ascendant._ We are here to request an audience with the Overdiamond."

"Very well. Maintain a holding orbit. You will be given approach routes for your shuttlecraft shortly."

"From which we will not deviate."

"Very well, then. _Ska-endtr__, myon._Evening out." The viewscreen returned to a view of San-Ska-Re. Dawn was just breaking, with the harsh, actinic light of the sun beginning to spill around the planetary disc.

"What was that he said, Rommie?"

"Its literal translation is 'at my coming home'. Figuratively, it might be taken to mean 'until we next meet'."

"Beka, prep the Maru. Trance, come with me. Mr. Anasazi, you have the bridge."

---

"…..and engine power-down…complete."

The Maru touched down to little fanfare at the Diamond Seat starport. Dylan opened the airlock to find a platoon of Than soldiers arrayed down the entryway. At their head stood a Sapphire Than. He was motionless, save for a gentle waving of his antennae. His hands were clasped before his waist, and insofar as Dylan had ever learned to read the faces of Than, he looked expectant.

After a moment, he began to amble toward the waiting party. As he did, the warriors snapped to attention, their forearms crossed above their chests to reveal the honours painted onto their bony carapaces. Almost automatically, Dylan saluted back.

"Welcome, captain. I am Moon over Water. I serve the Overdiamond, and until such time as you depart, I serve you too. Your journey must have tired you, and the Overdiamond will not have it said that we mistreat our guests. Come."

He turned and began to walk, and the _Andromeda_ party fell in behind. They were led to a waiting groundcar. Ushered in by more soldiers, Dylan, Beka and Trance climbed into the cool, dim, interior, allowing the vehicle to depart.

"Well, hot is the word I'd use. I'd swear I could feel my eyeballs cooking," was Beka's first observation.

Moon over Water turned to look at her. Although his expression was unchanged, the laughter in his voice was clear. "I had almost forgotten how fragile humans are. It is hot, but it is also home. I have never been offworld, and I know no different."

Beka almost looked chastised. "Forgive me. Home for me was anywhere in space. On my ship, Dad's ship, someone else's ship……you quickly get used to environmental regulation."

Moon over Water turned his eyes to Dylan. "And you, Captain Hunt? Do you find our homeworld……disagreeable…as well?"

Dylan was suddenly uncomfortably aware of how loaded the question was. _This is why I'm a starship captain and not a diplomat._, he thought. "If it's not Tarn-Vedra, then I'll never truly be comfortable," he replied, with a smile to soften the answer.

"Ah-ha! An honorary Vedran! Surely the Overdiamond will be even more keen to see you. You see, captain, your reputation precedes you. We are aware of your work out there," he swept his arm toward the ceiling " and of the favours you have rendered the Than. These have not been forgotten, but – ah." The groundcar had slowed to a halt outside an imposing sandstone building, with slit-like darkened windows and an impressively sized porch. A pair of soldiers flanked the door, an ornate brass portal two stories in height.

"In the days of the old Commonwealth, this was the House of Conclaves. Now we use it for official functions. I'm sure you'll find the guest accommodations comfortable," he stopped to look at Beka, "even if you find our planet less so."

The doors opened onto a hall and grand staircase only just half the size of one of _Andromeda's_ hangars. Moon over Water motioned them up the stairs to a broad passageway, off which were many smaller doors.

"During Commonwealth dinners, more diplomacy was accomplished in this gallery than in official session. See for yourself." Moon over Water indicated the floor with a sweeping gesture of the hand, and sure enough, the carpet was worn, in some places to the tiles underneath. "We chose to keep it, for old time's sake."

Pushing open one of the side doors, Moon over Water swept inside. "Miss Valentine; Miss Gemini. If you find anything less than satisfactory, the wall comm will reach our guestmaster." Leaving them to gape, Moon over Water shut the door and turned to Dylan.

"Will you walk with me, Captain Hunt?"

---

"Understand, Captain, that we of the Than have no reason to love the Commonwealth. Our history shows us that where the one has failed us before, it will more than likely fail us again. If you come on Commonwealth business, you will find your time has been needlessly wasted."

"I regret that. However, this visit is not on the behalf of the Reformed Commonwealth. It is a matter of……curiosity. You are Sapphire; which subject do you study?"

"Who better than a scholar of history to meet with one who would rebuild the Commonwealth?", asked Moon over Water with a chittering noise Dylan remembered was laughter. "And what is the nature of your curiosity?"

"It concerns the last days of the High Guard, some of their tactical decisions. We made some interesting discoveries on our last trip, and I was hoping to find some clue as to their significance in the Commonwealth archives." He paused, and took a breath. "Do you think that the Overdiamond would find such acceptable?"

"Captain, you misunderstand me. I do not speak Common well, but I thought I made it clear that I serve the Overdiamond; I do not presume to speak for her." He pointed. "Your room, captain. I must make arrangements."

---


	3. Warnings

"O-kay...I've been on ships smaller than these quarters," Beka observed from the bed. Trance was wandering around the room, examining the plants, occasionally feeling one, or sniffing another. "Why d'you think they put us here?", Beka asked.

"…….pretty," came Trance's response from across the room.

"Trance. Forget the flowers. They're not going anywhere. Now, why would they put us up somewhere fit for the Vedran Empress? Do some of that seeing-the-future stuff."

"Maybe they want something." Trance shrugged, a gesture that anyone wanting a straight answer soon learned to detest. "Weren't they in the Commonwealth before?"

"I think so. But they seem to have done quite well out of the Fall. And they take their security seriously," she added, thinking back to all the ships and soldiers she had seen on the visit so far. "Unless they know something we don't, they seem to be quite happy where they are." _Or they think we're here to take over the planet…all three of us._ Beka smiled at the thought.

Beka got up and stretched. Trance was staring out of the window, a view surprisingly broad for such a narrow frame. "Have you ever been here before, Beka?"

"San-Ska-Re? Once or twice. I used to run parts through here way back when. Diamond Seat? No. Mostly the orbital habitats, although I did come planetside a few times. I've never liked the place."

"That's a shame. I wondered which one was the Overdiamond's palace," Trance said, regarding the skyline of San-Ska-Re's capitol.

"Well, assuming we're not mistaken for Magog, and that Dylan doesn't have any major diplomatic _faux pas_, and that Tyr doesn't accidentally blow anything up, we should find out soon enough."

---

Dylan had just stepped from the shower when the door chimed. 

"One moment!"

He struggled into pants and tunic in an attempt at decency, then opened the door. Stood outside was Commander Breeze of Evening.

"Commander."

"Captain." The Than pilot drew up his forearms in salute. Dylan couldn't help but smile.

"As you were. Can I help you at all?"

"Please…" He swept an arm around. Dylan motioned him inside.

"Now. What can I do for you?"

Breeze of Evening looked around before he spoke. "Captain. Do you remember the Bokor?"

Dylan nodded. "How could I forget?"

"I was there, too. I may even have fired on _Andromeda_. Let us get the accusations and apologies out of the way first."

Dylan waved his hand. "Commander, once we found out what was going on, we were as keen to destroy them as you were. I even had _Andromeda_ set for self-destruct, until we found a cure."

The antennae on Breeze of Evening's head rose, an expression of surprise. "A brave man indeed. There is much to admire in you, Captain Hunt. I make no secret of it; I support a new Commonwealth. Others, you may have noticed, are not so keen."

"Captain, I came to tell you of one thing, and one thing only. The records you seek…do not be surprised if we are…less than forthcoming. You might consider this obstructive, but there are things which," the Than paused thoughtfully, "must not be seen. This is not a reflection on you, or your crew. It is simply that they must not be known."

_Which tells me precisely nothing,_ thought Dylan. _Hell, getting answers out of Trance is easier than this._

"Commander, the data we want – and you haven't told me how you know I want it – if it was ever sensitive, it was sensitive 300 years ago. The whole universe has changed since. If it has any relevance at all, it is purely incidental. What I want is the satisfaction of my curiosity, not a pan-Galactic finger-pointing."

The Than regarded him with inscrutable eyes. "Captain, you do not want your curiosity satiated. If it were to be satisfied, you would soon wish you had never been curious at all."

"Now wait a min-" Dylan was cut off mid-word.

"Captain, that wasn't a threat. It was a statement of fact. If, and I sincerely doubt it will be so, _if_ you get those records, we will do you no harm. You will just wish you had never read them. I've taken too much of your time, Captain. I should go." The Than stood, bowed stiffly, and left.

_And what the Hell was all that about,_ Dylan wondered.

---

The trio convened in Dylan's room. Beka paced up and down, Trance stared out of the windows, and Dylan sprawled on the oversized divan.

"Dylan, they're up to something. I just can't prove it," asserted Beka. Dylan snorted, raised his eyebrows.

"I know. But why are they up to something? I had a very…," he paused, looking for the right word, "…odd visit from Commander Breeze of Evening. What he told me, broadly, was that we weren't going to get our records because they were too sensitive. Now, I'll grant you that a plan to blow up a hundred billion people might have been big news _at the time,_ but...it's not the time _any more_. Hell, the nova bombs aren't even there now. So what could they want to hide? I just don't get it, unless there's more to this than we know." _Or think we know._

"Exactly," replied Beka. "Based on what we know, there's no good reason for them for them to hide anything. _Ipso facto, _QED, there must be more to it." She wore a frown, stroking her chin and occasionally looking at the ceiling, as though soliciting inspiration from the Divine.

"Maybe your assumption was wrong." Trance turned to face the others, her expression daring Dylan to prove her wrong. Explanations had been demanded after the incident at the depot, so the whole crew knew of Dylan's hunch. Some of them even agreed with his response, although Tyr had been more impressed with the fact the Commonwealth could come up with such an audacious plan at all. "Maybe the nova bombs weren't for use against the Nietzscheans. Maybe…they were…for something else."

Dylan sighed. "Trance, that doesn't help us much, does it? Can you do any better than 'something else'? People, I need ideas. Facts would be better, but - please - something more than 'something else'."

In any case, the argument was settled by the chiming of the door.  Dylan answered it, and found himself face-to-face with another emerald warrior Than.  This one, he noticed, wore far more insignia than Breeze of Evening.

"Captain.  I am Fleet Admiral Passing of Shadows.  Moon over Water tells me you wish access to our old Commonwealth military records.  This is so?" he asked, his head tilted to one side.

_A trick, a trap, or actual honesty?__ Wondered Dylan.  __Well, if you have to bite…_

"Yes.  Old High Guard records from the Fall."

Passing of Shadows nodded.  "As I understood.  At the moment, Moon over Water is trying to find you an appointment with the Overdiamond, so you will have something of a wait.  If it were possible to this faster, then we would.  I understand you are a man of action, much like myself.  But process must be followed," he concluded.  The Than regarded Dylan with a wary eye, and began to speak again.  "I have wished to meet you for some time, Captain.  Perhaps we might talk over dinner.  The invitation, of course, extends to all of your crew."

"I'd be delighted."

"Well, then.  Let us not delay any longer."  Passing of Shadows' speech had the brusque, staccato quality of one used to giving orders under pressure.  _Not unlikely, _thought Dylan.  The Than had tenaciously defended their corner of the universe for the last 300 years.  It necessarily followed that so much conflict produced leaders, and not merely commanders.

Dylan, Beka and Trance travelled by groundcar to the Admiralty building.  Another of San-Ska-Re's Commonwealth-era architectural marvels, it stood well over sixty stories high, and was made of the same sandy-orange stone as the House of Conclaves.  In galactic terms, it wasn't a big building, but when set against San-Ska-Re's otherwise low-rise skyline, it cut an imposing silhouette.  In the bluish evening twilight, the stone had a pleasing, almost luminous quality.  Passing of Shadows waved them through the security on the main entrance, a process trivial enough that Dylan wondered how much how much pull he had.  He then led them through the crowded corridors, exchanging greetings and salutes with the multitude of Than, of almost every different caste, that thronged the facility.  Their passage through the command nexus, where the day to day business of the Hegemony's defence was handled, and into the kilometres of offices where the defence staff passed their days was marked by a gradual increase in decoration, a replacement of spartan, utilitarian cinderblock with painted drywall and of harsh, white overhead light with smaller, yellower wall lamps.  A door at the end of a carpeted corridor opened onto a modestly sized, but very well-appointed dining room.  A pair of Brown Than stewards stood discretely to one side.

"Please, take a seat."  Passing of Shadows addressed them directly for the first time since leaving the House of Conclaves.  "We will eat shortly, but we have a few additional guests to wait for.  Some drinks, in the meantime?"  Passing of Shadows seemed disconcertingly agreeable, as though he were trying to disarm the _Andromeda_ party with a smile and a word.

The drinks cabinet contained almost every spirituous liquor that Dylan had tried, a few he'd only heard of and a couple he'd never even seen.  Dylan accepted a mineral water, painfully aware that any conversation with Passing of Shadows would be akin to mental judo.  Beka took scotch, a good vintage one, and Trance availed herself of a fruit juice almost unobtainable off-world.  The whole endeavour was calculated to overwhelm the visitors, and it almost succeeded.

Dylan was the first to speak, after the chorus of murmured "thank yous".

"Admiral, I appreciate your hospitality, but…why?"

"Captain, I am the Commander-in-Chief of the Hegemony's armed forces.  Your request was of a military nature – and a high-level one, too – and so it crossed my desk, as you say.  When I asked about you, and my people forwarded what they had, I was even more obligated.  You had a visit from Breeze of Evening earlier, yes?"

Dylan nodded.

"He was sent as…an envoy, as it were.  Captain, I'll ask you one more time.  Reconsider.  You may deem these records important – and they are, to be fair – but they will remind of something which you may wish to forget."

Dylan managed, by dint of much effort, to control his temper.  "Admiral.  I respect your position, but so far I've heard nothing but sinister suggestions that I 'forget everything', or that I 'don't want to know'.  I've seen a great many things I wish I could forget, and I know a lot of things I don't want to know.  For better or for worse, these things are mine to look after.  I think I can deal with one more ghastly truth."

"As you wish."  Passing of Shadows seemed disappointed.  "In that case, you'll get your satisfaction.  And I hope for your sake you want it as badly as you say you do.  I should lay down a few rules for this meeting before we begin.  Nothing that is said will leave the confines of this room.  I know you are a man that understands secrecy, Captain, but do your crew?"  He shot a glance at Trance and Beka.

"They're reliable," he replied, although if Beka's looks could have killed, she had just committed genocide.

"And there will be no record of what happens here.  In point of fact, this _is not happening_.  It is, to coin a phrase, black.  What will be discussed is very sensitive.  Even today," concluded Passing of Shadows.

Dylan again nodded his assent.

"How timely," observed Passing of Shadows.  "The rest of our little party have arrived."

The doors of the dining room were opened by a pair of soldiers.

"Announcing Radiance of Twilight, Overdiamond of the Than-Thre-Kull and Hegemon of the Home Worlds!"

---


	4. Answers

Framed in the doorway was a Diamond Than, almost pure white, with just a hint of blue along the edges of the exoskeletal plates.  She affected almost none of the traditional trappings of royalty, save for a simple gold band around the head.  She strode across the room toward Dylan, who came smartly to attention and saluted.

"At ease, Captain." She extended a hand, which Dylan took gracefully.  One of her bodyguards ushered her away, and toward the chair at the head of the table.  "Please, sit."

The congregation of Than and Humans obeyed.  Passing of Shadows sat at the far end of the table, opposite the Overdiamond, and the _Andromeda's_ crew took positions down one side.

Radiance of Twilight was the first to speak.  "Captain, it is a pleasure to finally meet you.  It is something of a shame that the circumstances were not better.  You have asked for some of our records.  I am here because……well, because the subject of the records is – would be, if it ever became public knowledge – a source of shame for my people.  I have a duty to ensure it does not become one.  I trust the Admiral has impressed on you the sensitivity required?"

"At length, your Majesty."  Dylan inclined his head.

"Then, Admiral, please begin."

Passing of Shadows stood, and began to speak without notes.

"The logical place for us to begin is after your encounter with the Bokor.  At the time, you forwarded to my subordinate, Breeze of Evening, a log of your activities.  You will recall that that log contained a recent itinerary mapping your movements in the area, that we might assess their possible spread."

"We noticed your visit to an old High Guard weapons depot.  When our scouts arrived, they reported nothing in system but dust consistent with a destroyed asteroid.  We surmised, therefore, that you had stumbled upon the nova bombs and had taken measures to prevent their proliferation.  A wise decision, if I might digress a little."  Passing of Shadows looked at Dylan, his posture and body language conveying more than a little respect.

"Now, I suspect that you came to a conclusion about the nova bombs' purpose.  However, I can assure you that, whatever the conclusion, it was incorrect."  He paused, seeming to consider which path to take next.  "If I may jump a little, I will return to your report on the Bokor.  Now, your first impression is that the Than attacked the drift with biological weapons, a view which was discarded later.  This is where the story really begins."

"In one sense, Trance, you were right," he said, inclining his head toward her. "They were biological weapons. But they were Commonwealth biological weapons, not something of our doing alone.  And this was not an attack.  It goes back far longer."

"At the time of the Fall, things were not going well.  We needed a tool to eliminate Nietzscheans. Conventional weaponry was too slow; nova bombs have…undesirable side effects. But then we began to consider their genetic makeup. They were engineered, unique, distinct from normal humanity. And with that realisation, we began to wonder: why not a precision engineered custom organism?"

"Of course, this presented us with still more difficulties. Nietzscheans are renowned for their immune systems. Who was to say, then, that they might not evade our new strain? And so we set about giving it…well, we called it intelligence by way of a joke. It turned out to be a little prophetic. Oh yes, our new organism was canny. We tested it, in small doses, in the lab. We even produced a vaccine, to see if it could be done. It could, but it just walked over it. It could detect the efforts of the immune system, and fight back."

"How we clapped ourselves on the back, thinking 'this will surely turn the war against them'. And it might have done…except by the time of the first stand-up test, our new organism had an agenda of its own. We could never have predicted how it would react to life in large colonies – or in sentients. We never even considered it. We launched a canister of it into a planet called Ymgarl, an almost barren rock with a few thousand Nietzscheans living on the surface. We were gratified by the life-signs dropping off the sensors so quickly. We thought it was a triumph. In the interests of a thorough test, our ships remained in orbit for a day or so, monitoring the epidemic. We anticipated a few survivors......just not their nature."

"When the first survivor's ship rose from the surface, we moved to intercept. We were not prepared to light the fire yet; it was thought that we should collate the data from our test first. Oddly, our sensors showed no life on board, so we boarded it, hoping to find some clue as to why. It was here, captain, that we first met the Bokor."

"Understand, captain, when they left the lab, they were nothing more than efficient killers, just another P5 pathogen in a universe full of them.  But it would appear that they were more efficient than we thought.  The sample we managed to recover…it had acquired the Nietzschean self-preservation instinct, presumably from one of its hosts.  We had equipped it with the ability to deal with the immune system on a genetic level, we just didn't think it could be used for anything else.  And…when they grew, once the population reached a certain…critical mass, if you like, they began to think."

"You know Breeze of Evening."  It was a statement rather than a question. "One of his ancestors was a High Guard crewman on the vessel that fired that canister.  His descendents, and descendants of the other Than crewmembers, have been tracking down and destroying the Bokor wherever they could be found ever since.  We called it Project Pandora, after a legend from your history.  We released the evil on the world…equally we must be the hope it can be destroyed.  This is why you found those nova bombs, captain.  They were stockpiled for one thing, and one alone:  to stop the Bokor. We couldn't be sure how far or how fast they would spread, so we planned for a…worst-case scenario – a total overrunning of Nietzschean space.  You found only one of the dumps…at the time, there were more than a hundred, some even bigger than the one you discovered."

Dylan wore an expression halfway between anger and disbelief.  It did not go unnoticed among the assembled Than.

"Captain…you think this was ill-considered?  Inhumane, possibly?  The Bokor are even more inimical to sentient life than the Magog.  And Magog stay dead when shot.  If the Bokor had spread faster, more widely, you would have no concerns about interstellar stability, sentient rights, or even the Magog themselves, because every sentient in the Known Worlds would be a reanimated corpse.  Is that the world you wanted to inherit?  The universe you want to reunite?  You know the phrase 'the end justifies the means'?  You have seen the Bokor, captain.  You know them.  I ask you, what would you have done?  There is another earthly saying that applies well – 'the lesser of two evils'.  We had released one devil from its cage……if it was necessary to dance with another in order to return it, then we would do so, and let it call the tune as well."

Passing of Shadows paused, as though to regain a little strength after his tirade.  "As it stands, it never turned into an epidemic.  We caught most of the escaping ships, and it never really had the opportunity to spread.  But at the time, captain, we looked straight into the abyss and the abyss not only looked back, but it laughed at us too.  I think, in retrospect, that the Fall was preferable to an advancing Bokor-fuelled horde.  That is how serious our situation was,"  he concluded.

Dylan reclined, his head bowed in thought.  _To take one evil to destroy another, and a third evil to destroy the second when it all goes wrong…  There was little he could say, and a tiny, nagging part of his consciousness told him that Moon over Water, Breeze of Evening and Passing of Shadows were all right, that he hadn't wanted to know.  Beka, normally quite resilient to bad news, was sat bolt upright, mouth agape.  Even Trance looked agitated._

Then the Hegemon spoke.  "You see our dilemma, captain.  This is why so much secrecy was necessary.  It is unfortunate that any of these events came to pass, but one must consider – what is the phrase?  Objective circumstances.  We must deal with the universe _as it is_, not as it should be, or as we would like it to be.  I hope you are satisfied, captain.  It is not something of which we are proud.  I am not really qualified to judge, but I doubt the Commonwealth soldiers and scientists behind it were proud, either.  It was a last-ditch effort, captain, something that had to be done.  Such efforts are rarely anything to be proud of, but they are necessary." 

Dylan's voice was low, resigned: "The Commonwealth was supposed to be a force for good, a force for unity……it was supposed to be a lot of things.  But then, if it had been truly successful, the Fall would never have happened.  One evil to fight another…"

An unhealthy silence descended over the room, each of those present brooding on the possibilities presented by the twin evils of the Bokor, and the total destruction of a thousand systems.  Again, it was the Hegemon who broke the silence.

"Captain……you think of the Commonwealth as a light in the sky; some kind of ideal order to which we can all aspire.  It was, captain.  And it can be again.  Do not let the actions of a few, and the necessary reactions of the remainder, blind you to that.  This was a black day for the Commonwealth, captain, make no mistake, but it was a black day that was the necessary outcome of a blacker night.  Our gambit failed; you've seen the results.  If there is some way, some means to make it better, then it should be seized with both hands, lest we fall so far into that same darkness that there is no longer any way out.  Captain, what has been described here is past.  Not a good past, or a proud past, but a past nevertheless.  We must move forward sooner or later, and I think this time is good."

Dylan looked up, surprised.  "But Moon over Water – he said – "

"Whatever he said, captain, he told you he did not speak for me.  Now may not be the time for the Than to join a new Commonwealth, but we can at least stand with it as allies.  And, if the occasion presents itself later on……well.  We will talk."

---


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"…and let me thank you, again, for your time."  The Hegemon stepped back from the airlock, allowing Dylan to close and seal it prior to his departure.  Their visit to San-Ska-Re had been successful, insofar as he had his answers; he had even secured a cautious pledge of support from the Than Hegemony.  But it did not have the taste of victory.  _Another victory with your many.__  But for every victory, a loss, captain, he thought.  _

Gaheris had said that.  Another of his failures.  There was little success to be had in the universe of today, and what little he had found was always somehow tainted.

_We must move forward sooner or later, captain._  The Hegemon's words still echoed in his head.  She seemed content that a new Commonwealth could somehow avoid the pitfalls of the old one, and perhaps she was right.  Perhaps, having seen the consequence of failure, people could be relied upon to make a new one succeed.  _No, thought Dylan with an ironic snort, __what you can rely on people to be is people.  He snorted again, smiled, and shook his head.  __The law of conservation of optimism at work again.  _

Well.  Time to move forward, if only just a little.

"Beka, take us out."


End file.
